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Another one on this site who doesn’t know what he is talking about, come up to the North beyond Chiang Mai and you will find that the army did go around warning hill farmers not to burn also there have been attempts to put out fires.

My brother in law is in charge of emergency services in one area and they spent days trying to extinguish fires in the mountains at Doi An Khang and that had to be done without the fire fighting equipment they have in Australia and the US.

As far as as taking action against the people lighting fires as he told me unless they catch them in in the act they are powerless the same way that arsonists who light bush fires in Australia escape.

As an expert in this area perhaps next year you can come and help I am sure they would appreciate your assistance.

Shame they don't buy the Fire Brigade all the latest and effective equipment instead of buying useless Submarines !

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"No idea why HIV is more prevalent in the north of Thailand (looks like CM/CR)?"

I would guess non protection and perhaps drug/needle transmission

Unlikely. By far the largest proportion new HIV infections - around 70 percent if I remember rightly - result from men having sex with men.

Maybe the outreach to gays, transexuals and transgender folk (the most vulnerable groups) is not as efficient "oop North" as it is in Bangkok which surely must have many more male sex workers than Chiang Mai and Chang Rai combined.

Or could it be that a lot of them have actually migrated to Big Mango but are included in the stats for CM/CR because they have home addresses there?

Either way, you would have thought some enterprising journalist would have got a whiff of a possible good story in the making.

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IF I showed you this before you came, would you still go/come to the North? answer is probably YES. That's the real story. Is it money worries??? Life is soo bad back home that this is much better? The HIV thing was surprising, but it's not like you will go to BKK or Pattaya or Phuket and not use protection....i hope not. probably high everywhere, or at least tell yourself that.

OK, you can save 200 euros a month but get lung cancer and aids.... OK?

OK, you can save 300........ what is the number where you realize it's not worth it?

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Another one on this site who doesn’t know what he is talking about, come up to the North beyond Chiang Mai and you will find that the army did go around warning hill farmers not to burn also there have been attempts to put out fires.

My brother in law is in charge of emergency services in one area and they spent days trying to extinguish fires in the mountains at Doi An Khang and that had to be done without the fire fighting equipment they have in Australia and the US.

As far as as taking action against the people lighting fires as he told me unless they catch them in in the act they are powerless the same way that arsonists who light bush fires in Australia escape.

As an expert in this area perhaps next year you can come and help I am sure they would appreciate your assistance.

Putting out the fires will be an impossible task and in my opinion will not work.

This has to be tackled where the money is being generated through the sales and business networks where these mushrooms are being sold. Make it illegal to sell these mushrooms with hard strict penalties if caught, both within Thailand and internationally. This is very simple to police. The authorities already know who is currently profiting, but it’s the payments of corruption that allow this problem to continue.

Once the business network is stopped replace the burning of mass forests with small cultivation centers of green houses where these mushrooms can be grown under controlled conditions within Thailand. This will help provide jobs to the needed.

Until those who who are profiting are brought to justice this problem will continue to grow.

1

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“However, this study is giving us a very clear message: that the authorities and every stakeholder should do something right now to protect the people from exposure to hazardous air pollution and prevent the long-term serious health threats from the seasonal smog problem.”

People could be dying in the streets and "the authorities" would come up with some scheme to assist with funerals-- instead of preventing the fires by giving stiff jail sentences to those doing the burning or turning a corrupt eye away from it.

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1. I had no idea that the North was such an HIV danger zone. Sobering.﻿

The chart is showing mortality rates, not infection rates.

Per the OP: "from the study of standardised mortality ratio of 12 major health threats based on each locality in Thailand during the period from 2001 to 2014"

So for all anyone knows at least by that chart there could be more HIV infections per capita in Pattaya (gee, what are the odds?)

On 5/7/2019 at 5:03 PM, AlexRich said:

No idea why HIV is more prevalent in the north of Thailand (looks like CM/CR)?

Again, the chart does not show HIV prevalence by infection rates, it shows only mortality rates (see above post)

As to why more deaths, while it could be more infection (but we don't have that info by the op's post) and while I haven't studied the issue, at a glance I'd think the higher mortality number might be more a matter of poverty, education, accessibility to medical care, that sort of thing.

Condom use among men who have sex with men is high, estimated at more than 82.1%.

(but here's a problem)

...Of those 60,000 considered high-risk, only 14,000 tested for HIV in the course of a year, of whom 4,000 were diagnosed HIV-positive. Yet fewer than 1,000 of these men started taking antiretroviral treatment despite it being available for free"

23 hours ago, wisperone said:

"No idea why HIV is more prevalent in the north of Thailand (looks like CM/CR)?"

I would guess non protection and perhaps drug/needle transmission

Yeah, non protection is the biggie. Everyone has to learn how to play safe. But....

A) again, the chart in question does not show infection rates, but mortality rates.

"urban settings have shown to yield exceptionally high HIV prevalences among female sex workers, as high as 20% in Bangkok, for example"

21 hours ago, henry15 said:

Its the promiscuity of the Hill Tribes.

Promiscuity does not spread HIV; it is unsafe needle use and unsafe sexual practices which spreads HIV.

Saying not having sex will reduce HIV spread rates is like saying starving will help you lose weight. Good luck arguing that.

But at least the judgmentalism that tries to shame people about what might come naturally to them can hinder others from seeking medical attention so it must be nice to be able to contribute to humanity. Perhaps compassion instead of shame?

17 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Interesting indeed, but bear in mind this is where many of the bar girls and boys come from to earn money for their families whilst working the southern resorts. They become infected and pass on to friends and possibly families on their return via unprotected sex and/or dirty needles (as mentioned). How many of you farangs have had to make a trek north to Lanna or Issan to "meet the family"?

Again, chart does not show infection rate but mortality rates. You could be right though in a gross sort of way. Perhaps the chart is showing where untreated, infected people go to die.

"In Thailand, the vast majority of sex workers are migrants from villages, who use the income from sex work to support families in their home communities. Migrant sex workers in low-income places appear to be at particularly high risk of HIV."

So, again, poverty, education, access to health care, which was my first thought.

14 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Unlikely. By far the largest proportion new HIV infections - around 70 percent if I remember rightly - result from men having sex with men.

"Thanks to successful HIV testing programmes, Thailand has reached the first 90 of UNAIDS’ 90-90-90 targets as 91% of people living with HIV in 2016 were aware of their status. Of those people who know they are HIV positive, 75% were on treatment, 79% of whom were virally suppressed....

HIV prevalence is declining in Thailand due to successful HIV prevention programmes....

...There were 6,400 new HIV infections in Thailand in 2016. Most will have occurred through unprotected sex, which is estimated to account for 90% of all new HIV infections. Unsafe injecting drug use is the second biggest transmission route...